Lasers and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can provide intense radiation at one or more selectable wavelengths that is (are) useful for hi-tech optical systems, such as optical communication systems, bioanalytical systems, medical devices, material processing systems, and defense systems. The output from a laser or LED may be collimated or uncollimated, and the radiation may be pulsed or continuous wave. In some cases, short optical pulses (e.g., optical pulses less than about 1 nanosecond) may be produced by lasers or LEDs and provided to a hi-tech optical system.
Some hi-tech optical systems can include precision optical devices to which the output from the laser or LED must be coupled. One example of a precision optical device is an integrated optical waveguide on a chip. Typically, a spatial mode profile of a beam output from the laser or LED is not well-matched to a spatial mode profile of a fundamental mode, for example, that is supported by the waveguide. Accordingly, one or more optical components may be needed to improve the match between the spatial mode profiles of the beam and receiving optical component of the optical system to which the beam is coupled.